WWUTT 457 Working In Truth?

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John said to Gaius, 3rd John verse 8, that we need to be fellow workers in the truth. We work in different capacities, with different spiritual gifts, in different churches, but all for the same thing, the truth of God's Word, when we understand the text.

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You are listening to When We Understand The Text, an online Bible ministry committed to teaching sound doctrine and exposing the faulty.

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Find videos and more at our website, www .tt .com. Now here's our host,

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Pastor Gabe Hughes. Thank you, Becky. Once again, we are in the book of 3rd John, and as with yesterday, we'll read all the way through the letter, and then come back and go through the text.

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So John writes, The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth.

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Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you, and that you may be in good health as it goes well with your soul.

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For I rejoiced greatly when the brothers came and testified to your truth, as indeed you are walking in the truth.

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I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

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Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are, who testified to your love before the church.

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You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God, for they have gone out for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from the

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Gentiles. Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth.

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I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority.

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So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us.

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And not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers, and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church.

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Beloved, do not imitate evil, but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God.

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Whoever does evil has not seen God. Demetrius has received a good testimony from everyone and from the truth itself.

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We also add our testimony, and you know that our testimony is true. I had much to write to you, but I would rather not write with pen and ink.

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I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face. Peace be to you.

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The friends greet you. Greet the friends, each of them by name. So let's go back through those first four verses that we looked at yesterday, as John identifies himself as the elder, writing to the beloved

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Gaius. We do not know who Gaius is, clearly a dear friend, as John identifies him as beloved.

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He could be an elder of a church, or maybe somebody who is hosting a church in his home. And John says that he loves him in truth.

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Whatever Gaius's identity is, it's clear that John knows what church he belongs to and his relationship with that church, because he talks about the church, which we're going to get to here in just a little bit, and identifies this false teacher,

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Diotrephes, who is doing things to keep the brothers out of the church and also talking wicked nonsense about the apostles.

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So John is writing to a member of that church who is closely associated with that situation that's going on there.

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So again, Gaius may be a person who is an elder or perhaps hosting the church in his home.

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John says he loves him in truth, just as we saw John referring to the church that we read about in 2

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John as loving them in the truth. Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health as it goes well with your soul.

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For I rejoiced greatly when the brothers came and testified to your truth.

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Now, when he says your truth, he's not talking about a subjective truth.

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It's not something that is true to Gaius, but not necessarily true to somebody else, merely that Gaius has recognizably made the truth his own.

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This is the truth. It is the truth that I am walking in, just as all those who are followers of Christ share that same truth.

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So as Gaius has made it personal and committed himself to it, it's his truth, as it is also the apostles truth, as you as a follower of Christ have made it your truth so that you might proclaim the truth to the captives, that they would be set free by the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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So this is what we understand by making this truth our own. It doesn't mean that it's subjective, that something that exists inside of you, but for somebody else, it would be a different truth.

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Truth is truth to everybody, regardless of how they feel about it. So for Gaius, it is something that he has owned personally, and he is truly bearing fruit as the brothers are able to testify of this truth that Gaius is walking in.

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Indeed, you are walking in the truth, John says, finishing up that verse. Verse four,

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I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. And as a pastor, that is something that I deeply identify with.

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I remember when I first started teaching. So I was an associate pastor for two years officially, like in the ordained position.

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I had worked in churches, in other positions prior to that, but actually as an ordained minister,

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I was an associate pastor for two years. The senior pastor left, and then I filled in the senior pastor position as an interim before I was voted into that position officially.

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So as an interim, I wore a lot of hats. I did a lot of jobs. As a matter of fact, I was doing some of those jobs even before the senior pastor left because he kind of checked out there in the last few months that he was at the church and wasn't anywhere to be found.

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So a lot of times members were calling or needed needed something done. And and yet he wasn't there to handle the problem.

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And so I was taking on those roles, even though I had never officially been handed the responsibility of doing those kinds of things.

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So then as the interim, and I'm kind of getting my feet underneath me, you know, eventually it got to a point where several families very lovingly were asking of me, what can we do for you?

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Like, what can we do to help you maybe relieve some of the burden that you are carrying or relieve some of the responsibilities that you have in front of you?

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And I thought about that. I didn't really feel like I was overworked, but I thought about what something could what somebody could do for me.

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And I figured it out. I prayed about it. I read the scriptures and in preparation for a sermon that I was teaching on an upcoming

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Sunday, I came before the church and I said this, if there is something that you want to do to help me, let me tell you this.

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Stop sinning. Because the most burden, most burdensome thing on any church and not just me, but you as well, all members of this congregation, the most burdensome thing upon a church is when its own members are sinning, when they're not walking in the truth, when they show up on Sunday, but then live the rest of their lives like the rest of the world does in sin rather than walking in the righteousness of Christ.

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It detracts from the mission that we have been called to do. And instead of going out with the gospel or loving one another as we should or loving others with charity so that they would hear the gospel of Christ, instead of doing the work that we as a church have been called to do, we're having to deal with these sin issues.

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And that takes all of our focus and also makes the messages that are preached on Sunday pointless.

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Like if I preach this sermon, but you're not practicing it during the week, I'm just doing it in vain. It's just for myself and is not having any fruit in changing anybody.

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So I said the best way you can help me and the best way you can help this church is to stop sinning.

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And I had a few people come to me afterward and say that it was very powerful and it was convicting.

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So for me, the greatest joy that I have as a pastor is to hear that my children, those who are under my care, the sheep that I have been entrusted with to care for as a pastor, a word that means shepherd.

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And I am an under shepherd to the chief shepherd who is Christ. Peter talks about that in first Peter five.

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So the greatest joy for me is to see that my children, whom I labor for in the word of God, are walking in the truth.

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So let's continue from there today. And a verse five beloved, it is a faithful thing that you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are.

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Now, I'll tell you, I kind of I kind of labored over that verse a little bit to figure out who the brothers are that John was talking about.

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But in context, it would have to be the brothers that he mentioned in verse three. I rejoiced greatly when the brothers came and testified to your truth.

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So then he mentions the brothers again. It is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are.

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So this isn't the church that Gaius is a part of. It's the brothers who had come back and had told

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John what they had witnessed about Gaius. And then he mentions them again when he says, you'll do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God.

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So, again, this can't be the brotherhood that Gaius is worshiping with in the church that he is a part of.

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It has to be these men that John has referred to who have come to this church that Gaius has served and cared for.

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And maybe only Gaius, like the other members of the church, didn't do that, but Gaius did.

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So then when the brothers came back and reported this to John, John rejoiced to hear that Gaius was was walking in this truth.

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But apparently the other members of the church are not reflecting the same kind of fruit that Gaius is producing.

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So because he gets to the point where he says, I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority.

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So I'm going to kind of rabbit trail a little bit here. This is another reason why

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I don't think first, second and third John are meant to be grouped together as three parts of one work that was sent to one church, because very clearly the church that John is talking about here is not the same church he's addressing in second

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John, because he was rejoicing to find that there were members of that congregation who are walking in the truth.

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And here in third John, it's like he's struggling to find members who are walking in the truth of the church that Gaius is a part of.

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It seems to be only Gaius is showing that sort of fruitful labor.

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So coming back to the text here again, as John calls him beloved the third time, we get to verse five and three times

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John is referred to Gaius as beloved, a very dear friend and showing the the kind of fellowship that John had with those that he wrote to, whether it was first John or second

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John or third John, and doing this shared work together as part of the church, because as we have in verse eight, we may be fellow workers for the truth.

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So him identifying a church as in second John is beloved or identifying Gaius as beloved is to kind of call him to this shared work, saying you are just as much a part of this as we are beloved.

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It's a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are.

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Gaius likely opened his home up to them, was very hospitable, fed them, gave them a place to stay, gave them place in the church and warm welcome in that particular body.

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And they testified to Gaius's love before the church who testified to your love before the church.

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Now, this may mean that the brothers who were there visiting on behalf of John testified to Gaius's church about the witness that he has before that church.

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Or it could mean that these brothers came back to John and testified before the church that John was in, which likely was the church in Ephesus and said to the whole church, here's what

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Gaius is doing. Here's the kind of love that Gaius showed us and and how he is struggling and laboring for the church that he is a part of.

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I mean, this this clearly if this guy is walking in righteousness and the rest of the body that he's a part of is is struggling in in some of those things, maybe not walking in righteousness, easily led astray by false teachers, as we have the case with diatrophies.

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Clearly, if that was Gaius's position, if that was his condition, there in that particular church, then surely he was grieved over what he was witnessing in the body.

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And I would want to encourage you as a fellow believer, as somebody who loves the church that you are a part of, that you would yearn for that body, that you would labor for them to walk in sound doctrine.

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Don't look at it as I'm more mature than all of these people. So I need to go find a church where where they would be as mature as I am on the contrary.

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Romans chapter 15 tells us that we who are mature have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves, but to build them up for their good.

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And then as we read in Ephesians chapter four, the entire body builds itself up in love, all the joints and ligaments joined together, growing with a growth that is from God.

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And so it's it's a work and you will struggle and it will be painful and you will desire to see this body walk in sound doctrine.

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And sometimes when they don't and it feels like you're taking one step forward and like five steps back, you know, it's a struggle.

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And I understand that because I've been there. I've been in this church for seven years and I have watched it go from some pretty bad teaching at some points in the past to loving sound doctrine and growing in these things all the more.

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And we're not perfect. We still have a long way to go. But it is it is sticking with that church to see them grow, laboring for it, that they would desire the truth of God's word.

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And maybe in the process of growing in that truth, seeing that what they used to walk in was not in accordance with the word of God and therefore love

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God's word all the more and submitting to the full authority of the text, which is going to require some expositional preaching.

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And maybe you're even part of a church that's very topical. But you you have to continue in this in this labor, however long it takes.

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Sometimes it's going to take longer than seven years. You might even need to think of it as something that's a generational work.

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It would take an entire generation to to work out some of the false teaching that has been in your church.

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Again, if it's not heresy, then there's not a reason for you to have to leave. Continue this labor of love for your church, that they would walk in sound doctrine and you like Gaius, you

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God bless you, you might be the only one that may actually be the case.

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You might be the only one who has a sound understanding of God's word and reads it with scripture, interpreting scripture, expositional preaching, fully submissive to the full authority of the counsel of God.

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That's not for you to boast in it. Most certainly, you should not be going, hey, I'm the only one that has the truth.

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All the rest of y 'all, you need to be learning from me. That's that's not your approach, but rather humbly submitting yourself before the

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Lord and saying, God, I was lost and I have been found. I was blind, but now

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I see. So teach me patience, just like you had patience with me, that I would

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I would love this body and desire to see them walk in the truth, just as you desired that I would walk in this truth.

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You know, as a church right now, we are going through First Corinthians. That's what I'm teaching to my congregation.

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I think we started this in December, which is a weird month to start a new book. That's not, you know, the first two chapters of Matthew or Luke.

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But but anyway, I think it was it was December right after Thanksgiving or right around Thanksgiving that we started. And when

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I when I did my introduction to First Corinthians, I said to my congregation, one of the things that I love about this book,

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First Corinthians, is the love and the patience that Paul displays for the Corinthian church.

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Like if we were to go through the things that the Corinthians are guilty of, we just list the sins based on what we can read here in First Corinthians, the 16 chapters that we have.

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I mean, this is the kind of a church you would be looking at and going, what is the matter with you people? Shut your doors.

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You aren't even Christians. You're not even walking in the truth. You can't even call yourself a church.

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Get get get off of our street. Make the building available to somebody else who actually loves the Lord or something. You know, that might be our reaction to it.

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And that wasn't Paul's reaction. He rebuked them for their behavior. He called them back to selfless love, not this selfish thing they were doing, storing up for themselves, doctrines and truths and even spiritual gifts that would benefit themselves instead of benefiting the body of Christ.

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Some of them walking in sexual immorality, some of them even denying the resurrection of Christ. And yet Paul labored for this church, yearned for them to turn from their false teaching and their selfish ways and repent and walk in the truth of Christ.

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Then you get to Second Corinthians and you see that some of the church did, although there were still some that were listening to false teachers who

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Paul referred to as the super apostles. But you see in Paul this patient labor of love over this church.

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And that's something that I need. I need to learn because, boy, it's real easy for me, especially sitting on one side of a computer to kind of look out at churches that I see through the

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World Wide Web and go, that's a church. They aren't Christians. What is that guy doing? Real easy for me to do that.

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But yet to have the heart that the apostle Paul did yearning and laboring over a church that would reject false teaching and instead love sound doctrine.

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Now, there are false teachers that absolutely need to be called out. Amen. And the scripture instructs us to.

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We have in this letter, Third John, John naming a guy specifically, Diotrephes, who is causing all kinds of problems in this church.

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So sometimes those teachers need to be called out and they need to be named. But that doesn't mean we we totally dismiss the entire church, for there are members of that congregation that are being led astray and maybe even some people there who are desiring a return to sound teaching, but just don't know how to get it started.

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They don't know how to get it moving. In the case of this particular church, Gaius may have been the only one.

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And yet John doesn't blow them off here. He says, I have something that I've written to the church, but Diotrephes is kind of making it difficult for us to be able to communicate with the church.

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So maybe I'm going to have the chance to come and I'm going to show them the kinds of things that Diotrephes is saying against us, how he's a false teacher.

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So they would stop listening to him and they would continue walking in truth. So just as we've seen

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Paul and John labor in love for these churches. So I appeal to you to do the same for your church.

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It's very easy for us in the flesh to to have an ideal church idolatry.

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If my church was just this way, my world would be good. That's that's totally selfish.

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It's totally in vain that you would desire that, that it not be for you, but it be for the body of Christ, that others would escape false teaching and walk in the truth, your truth, the truth that you have made personal and your own, that you must profess as an ambassador for Christ, as one who has been called to the ministry of reconciliation, as Paul talks about in 2

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Corinthians chapter five. There's a homework assignment for you there to read that particular chapter. So so verse seven, they have gone out for the sake of the name, talking about those brothers that had come to that church that John had helped, accepting nothing from the

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Gentiles. Therefore, we and pagans, you would understand that as pagans, not Gentile Christians.

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But they are they're not associating themselves with the pagans. Rather, they're giving

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Christians an opportunity to show service to them rather than taking something from pagans and not giving the

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Christians a chance to give service to these brothers in the Lord. Verse eight. Therefore, we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth, all of us working together to advance the gospel of Jesus Christ and the truth that accords with godliness.

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I do this in one capacity, regular Bible teaching on this particular podcast or the videos that we do through when we understand the text, the teaching that I provide to my church and the attention that I give to that congregation.

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And then you have a certain capacity in which you will operate in this ministry as well. Learning from the word of God, taking the truth that you have stored up in your heart and sharing it with others that they may be edified and grow all the more in the faith.

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So let us let us labor in this as much of a struggle as it is while we inhabit this flesh and this world.

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Lord, keep us steadfast that we would desire to see your body grow in the faith.

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And we pray and ask these things in Jesus name. Amen. Gabriel Hughes is the pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Junction City, Kansas.